아시아인권위원회 홍콩지부 자원활동가 여인철 동문 인터뷰

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Leadving a Dignified Life for Human Rights
 
By Pyun Ja-seong, Student Editor
 
Many countries including the Republic of Korea democratized after several revolutionary movements but the work to be real democratic countries is still not complete. There are still plenty of incidents related to democracy and human rights between nations and people all the time. One human rights organization, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), contributes to solving these kinds of problems.
Working on human rights, the AHRC works especially on spreading information on civil rights, democracy, political will, and so on. The Chonnam Tribune flew to Hong Kong to meet a person who will be a future human rights activist and is recently dedicating himself for this cause. His name is Yeo In-chul and he is a Chonnam National University (CNU) alumnus. Having Business as his major, it seems that there is no connection between his expertise and civil activities. Then why did he commence in this activity and what made him to choose this road?
Mr. Yeo has been interested in the environment and unification since he was young and he did some activities as a member of an environmental Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Also, he spent his time working for the May 18 Memorial Foundation. Yeo said, “I am a native of Gwangju and I think that the place where I am from affected my actions and thoughts. CNU and the May 18 Memorial Foundation influenced me, too. That was the start of my career as a human rights activist.” Last February, by the May 18 Memorial Foundation, he was selected as one of the six interns who will work for mutual improvement of civil society and internationalization of the May 18 Movement in Asia and the Americas for 10 months.
The latest place where Mr. Yeo visited was Kandy, a city in central Sri Lanka. For five months, he worked with a local group in that place. Even though the purpose of the visit to Sri Lanka was to enlighten people with the spirit of democracy, most of time he focused on solving practical problems that happen in that region, like the availability of potable water. “Solving real problems was more urgent in Kandy“, he said. The most memorable experience for him was the many encounters with lots of warm-hearted people in Sri Lanka. “There were no foreigners but me, but the affection from Sri Lankans gave me so much strength and courage. I really miss all of them.”
Leaving behind his loved people and the place, he moved to Hong Kong for a new experience at the AHRC. This committee has existed for human rights since 1986. Its main job is to inform public opinions related to people’s rights and to deliver it to the United Nations or the government for solving problems. Every issue is important but the related issues of democracy and politics are the main priority. There are some differences between AHRC and the May 18 Memorial Foundation. The AHRC deals with human rights issues more directly while the memorial foundation concentrates on history and the May 18. The sister agency of AHRC is Asian Legal Resource Center where they take legal actions for issues of human rights. At this committee, Mr. Yeo is studying how to solve local issues reading and translating the book for the commission, while getting help from the director or his so called mentor. While studying, he realized that the level of consciousness in Asia for democracy is still low, compared to the United States and other European countries. “Asian countries are still facing lots of issues such as women’s rights, religious conflicts, and so on. It is a really big problem.”
Mr. Yeo’s concern about these problems made him decide to keep working on his current NGO activity to be a civil rights campaigner. For that dream, his Korean director is a very good model. Yeo said, “The director of mine also worked for this committee when he was my age. He had worked really hard and now he is the director of this commission! I hope to do the same thing.” Also, Yeo gives some advice for CNUians who want to be human rights activists. There is no specific way but to do some activities at various organizations like the May 18 Memorial Foundation, but volunteering at clubs will be of help. “The most important thing is your passion for being a human rights activist.” a future civil rights activist said. This job is not about making money, it is for helping people so if you do not have any interest or reason to do it, your work will be just painful. Also, he says that studying about human rights and paying attention to both domestic and international issues will be of high importance.

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